I’m afraid I’ve not been very good at keeping up with my diary over the last few weeks. I’ve managed a few trips down to the lotty but the last week I’ve been away at my daughter’s place.
She’s got an old house (over 120 years), a typical Yorkshire stone terraced. At some point the house was improved and the upstairs re-floored with chipboard. Now this is fine until damp gets in and causes the board to expand and break apart. Old houses are not known for their dryness…
So, new floorboards were duly ordered and carted around to the back of the house. Rooms cleared and carpets lifted. So after a breakfast of fresh duck egg sarnies in true builder style I started to rip up the old boards with my crowbar.
It didn’t take long for me to realise there was a major problem – they re-floored the upstairs and then erected partition walls on top of the boards. Now I’m DIY handy but the prospect of pulling out a floor and the walls collapsing was a bit daunting so repair the damage I’d caused and start phoning around for a proper builder.
Fox Proof Poultry Run
Well that being that with the building work, the next job was to start on a fox-proof poultry run. Foxes are becoming more and more of a problem in urban areas and she’s lost a duck to them recently so quite an urgent job.
She’s got some good quality weldmesh which just left some wood to get. Now my first thought was to build it like a fruit cage. Basically a number of panels which would be joined to each other and roofed over with a doorway.
So I jumped in and built the first couple only to realise we could utilise the existing fence for 3 sides but I’d need a few fence posts for the front. By this time I decide I’m not the greatest at DIY. If I’d thought it through better then I’d have not needed the panels because I’d have connected directly to the front fence posts.
It doesn’t help when you dig a hole and four hens jump in to harvest the worms! Get the hens chased off, turn around and there’s a duck in the hole doing the same. Eventually we had to pop them into their houses so we could get on.
Anyway, the poultry now have a fenced area but time ran out before I could get the roof on so not totally fox-proof yet. Now I reckon that’s a day’s work so we’ll need at least two days soon to get it finished.
Poultry House
I nearly forgot! Cara has a Devon hen house from Chicken Coops Direct so it was Dad’s job to build it. The instructions are a little basic but it’s actually very simple so long as you take your time and read them carefully.
The quality is excellent and the only problem was my fault for over-tightening a bolt with my electric screwdriver. They reckon it’s a 20 minute job, but it took me an hour including a long tea-break!
One thing we really like on the Chicken Coops Direct site is that they don’t over-state capacity. The Devon is stated to be suitable for 3 or 4 hens but we feel it will house 5 in comfort without overcrowding. I was really impressed and wholeheartedly recommend it.
Best of all, in comparison with many houses and arks on the market, the pull-out metal droppings tray makes cleaning a lot easier. Just line with paper and some shavings and then drop the lot into the compost bin. The perches lift out so they’re easy to clean as well.
More soon – promise!
Just lost one of our chickens to a fox, whilst we were having dinner. Had to put her out of her misery – very upset. On the search for fox proofing ideas. Sorry to hear about the duck.
For all the talk about deterrents – like male urine, bags of hair and so on, the only effective defence is good strong netting around the hens. There’s a few articles about fox proofing on the poultry pages. Having seen how foxes just bite through chicken wire, check this page out: Weldmesh for Chicken Coops
To stop foxes from digging under the chicken coop, I think that the only sure way is to put the coop on a concrete base. This morning I lost 4 of my flock bringing the total to 10 lost in 3weeks dispite sitting the coop on chicken wire mesh and having a dog in the garden. Chickens wanted and dog for sale!
I want to get chickens but I am worried about foxes there has never been one in our garden but you never know I am no good at diy so what is the simplest way to keep foxes out??? Please HELP asap thanks
We have just lost all 4 of our chickens to a fox, it only took 1 but killed the other 3. We had them for just over a year and they were all laying every day. They were the first chickens we ever had, and even though we were told not to the kids had named each of them, so you can imaging how upset they were when they found out. I now need to rethink the fox proofing. The hen house is sat on concrete so that isn’t a problem, but the little b.stard dug under the fence into the run during the day. I was thinking that I will need to dig down and put wire mesh underground level to stop this. Has anyone had a fox jump over their fence to get into the run? I didn’t want to put a roof on the run but might have to if this is a problem. It just seems strange that the lowest point of the fence is about 4 foot but it dug under instead.
@Scott: Oh dear 🙁 Really sorry to read that
If you want to be safe then a 6 foot fence with an extra piece bending out 18″ at the top and a skirt out 18″ at the base or down into the ground. Oh, and the fence needs to be weldmesh – not chicken wire that they can bite through.
Electric fencing is very effective and can be a much cheaper option
@Scott: Hi Scott- we lost our hens to a fox in Feb that came through the hedge and fence. The previous flock was lost when a fox jumped over a fence. Bear in mind that fence was 6 ft tall and made of a combination of chicken wire and pigeon netting. I have now removed the old run in order to reinstate it from scratch. I will dig down 1 spade depth all round, embed the fence into concrete and roof it. I am going to also offer my hens a “bolt hole” as all flocks could have sought sanctuary in their house but didn’t- choosing instead to head for a tight corner. I intend to put 2 holes, offset, into a box so that they can cower in there but mr fox cannot get in… Hope that helps.
I love foxes but being a wannabee chicken breeder in mid wales is nigh on impossible. Last summer I was making a raised flower bed with my wife at the front of the house and a fox was (at the same time) taking chickens at the back, the dogs were out with us too and none of us heard a sound. I followed the feathers down into the wood and found 14 out of my 19 stock of ex-batt hens. I did some research, a fox can jump over an 8 ft fence that doesn’t have an over-hang at the top and through my own experience will stay low until you’re not looking (their eyesight is that good) they know when you’re looking toward them, then they will pounce!
We have our run next to a feggy field, foxes often come to the fence to investigate (normally when cubs are growing as they need the food). I now have corrigated sheeting at the bottom of my run and lose pea netting on top (they won’t tread on this for fear of being ensnared in it if it’s loose). Above the sheeting i have chicken wire (I know they can chew through it but it’s too hard for them if standing on their back legs, or has been so far)along the ground i have doubled over pig netting pegged to the ground to stop them tunneling in.
I hope this helps anyone else who googled fox proof chicken run as i did.
All the best with your chickens,
Matt
Do not use pea mesh or any form of plastic netting over the top of your run as the fox WILL stand on this and rip through as we found out earlier this week.
Lost two lovely Maren Ladies early this am. Taken both just pile of sad feathers left. Going to try a fox proof run on the allotment. Garden not safe despite very large dog fencing all round, and two cats! Must be that time of year again.
A bolt hole sounds like a brilliant plan but could you explain how it could work as I have seen foxes squeezing through really small gaps ?
Also has anyone any ideas on how to make the top of a 4 foot brick wall totally fox proof without using barbed wire (ugly) or electric fencing (loads of kids around )it will be one side of my new hen run and I am a bit stuck please help!
Try asking on the forums – bet someone has had the same problem
I have kept chickens for 7 years now. I have never had to slaughter one because the fox has done it for me. I had 3 rescues chickens for 19 months and we thought we had cracked it with a fox proof chicken run but he succeeded in the end. Our chicken run is 9 ft high with barbed wire and a 1 foot overhang out wards. In the past the fox has ripped the roof off the chicken coop, dug under the netting into the run and just this evening has killed 7 out of our 11 chickens which we haven’t even had 2 weeks. It seems to have climbed over the 9ft fence. The only thing left to try is electric fencing. Is it any good ?
We lost all 10 of our chickens 4 years ago. We thought after that we had completely fox proofed our chicken run with wire 2ft in the ground. 6ft high fence, etc… But on Monday the fox climbed the fence and killed all 8 of our chickens 🙁 he also managed to take 4 away with him! Devastated!!!! We are now going to overhang the fence, coming out at a 90 degree angle for two foot. Does anyone know if this will be successfully or should we look in to electric fence also?
To stop them digging under I use plumbing copper cut it into foot lengths and hammer into ground in line along fence ,no need to buy new ones look out for building work going on and often find stuff they have removed . It means when they dig they find copper pipe in front of them .